---
id: index
title: Desktop App
---
import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl';

import FbInstallation from './fb/_installation.mdx';

Flipper helps you debug Android, iOS, and even web apps running in an emulator/simulator, connected physical development devices, or in your browser. Flipper consists of two parts:

- The desktop app
- The native mobile SDKs for Android and iOS, the client for JavaScript, or even a third-party client you could implement yourself or find on the web

Once you start Flipper and launch an emulator/simulator or connect a device, you'll start to see the device logs (and any other device-level plugins that work with your device).
For web apps, we do not ship any built in plugins yet.

To see app specific data, you need to integrate the Flipper SDK into your app. See the relevant section in the sidebar for how to do that.

## Installation

<OssOnly>

The desktop part of Flipper doesn't need any particular setup. Simply download the latest build for [Mac](https://www.facebook.com/fbflipper/public/mac), [Linux](https://www.facebook.com/fbflipper/public/linux) or [Windows](https://www.facebook.com/fbflipper/public/windows) and launch it. If you're on macOS, you can run `brew install --cask flipper` to let `homebrew` manage installation and upgrades (simply run `brew upgrade` to upgrade when a new version is released, although it might take a few hours up to a day for the package to be upgraded on `homebrew`). 

To work properly with mobile apps, Flipper requires a working installation of the Android and (if where applicable) iOS development tools on your system, as well as the [OpenSSL](https://www.openssl.org) binary on your `$PATH`. A compatible OpenSSL for Windows can be downloaded [here](https://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html) or from Chocolatey with `choco install openssl`.

If you are hacking a JS app, you should be good to go without any extra dependencies installed.

[Experimental] Alternatively, it is possible to run a browser based version of Flipper directly from NPM by using `npx flipper-server`. 

</OssOnly>
<FbInternalOnly>

<FbInstallation />

</FbInternalOnly>

## Troubleshooting

If you run into problems, check out the [troubleshooting page](../troubleshooting.mdx), and failing that, check <OssOnly>[GitHub Issues](https://github.com/facebook/flipper/issues).</OssOnly><FbInternalOnly>the [workplace group](https://fb.workplace.com/groups/230455004101832/).</FbInternalOnly>
